Sugar Crumbs
by Pickles the Great
Summary: And really, who would want to stop when it was just so tasty? Happy birthday, Shikamaru.


I swear to God the next story I update will be the Royai drabbles. SWEAR.

**&**

Troublesome birthdays. Stupid friends.

Same thing, every year.

He would spend the preceding two to three weeks begging them on bended knee not to do a thing for the entire day, save for leaving him alone. But, as completely expected of Konoha, no one would ever listen. It was... the only word that could possibly do the entire ordeal justice was troublesome. Troublesome, troublesome, trouble-

"One day," A sultry voice pierced his thoughts, "You will be fused with the ground on which you now sit, and when that time comes every available day I will come and mock you. Every. Day."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. Instead of being irritated with her biting comment, he was too preoccupied with how good she sounded when she was berating him. Her voice wasn't high-pitched and fake, but throaty and full and dammit it was perhaps the sexiest sound he'd ever heard.

"Troublesome woman."

But that didn't mean he was ever going to change.

He could feel Temari chuckling silently and landing down in the grass beside him without looking up. He could smell her from his spot on the ground, through the scent of grass and afternoon pollen. She smelled like soap, sweat, sand and sugar, probably from her daily inhalation of everything sweet. He had once bought her a large slice of cherry vanilla cake to shut her up after a tiring mission, and the way her eyes scrunched up in joy when she took a bite was just addictive. Soon afterwards it became a tradition between them to go out for something filled with empty calories and sugar every time they both had overlapping time to spare. Since she had just arrived in Konoha this morning, they hadn't had time to visit the sweet bakery as of yet. He was planning on getting her a large sugar cookie and watching her mysteriously get crystals of sugar over every single inch of bare skin she had. Some time ago, he had a profoundly vivid dream of licking the crumbs off her neck and cheeks.

Shikamaru started involuntarily. He did not need that image in his head right now.

Temari had been completely silent. This was unprecedented. He turned his head slightly to the side to examine her. She was just staring absently at the fading pink sky. The clouds were reflected in her eyes, making it seem like the sky was drenched in seawater and causing him to feel awfully sappy. Troublesome woman. Troublesome birthday. Stupid dreams. Stupid cookie.

"So." Temari said, as if his thoughts triggered her speech. "I hear it's your birthday today."

Shikamaru groaned inwardly. "So what, now you're going to join the throng of overexcited teenagers, trying to goad me into surviving a god-awful party with dozens of people I don't even know, insisting that it's for my own good?"

Temari laughed heartily, a bit of a snort coming out along with it. "Oh _God_, no. That's just ridiculous. I'm actually trying to save you, crybaby. I just got finished telling your blonde stick you were hiding out behind the gates. You're welcome, by the way."

Shikamaru raised his eyebrows in unison. "You derailed Ino and the Party Pack?"

She laughed again. "Yes. Yes I did." She turned and shot him a conspiratory grin. "I'm just that good."

Shikamaru began to thank her when a thought pushed itself to the front of his mind and was voiced before he could stop it. "When's your birthday?" He had better start coming up with a plan to pay her back for this or she'd never let him live it down.

"It was last month." She said, a laugh in her voice.

He could not control his reflexes, and snapped upright to match her posture. "Last—"

"The twenty-third." She clarified, brushing her dirty blonde bangs out of her face. "Gaara, Kankurou and I had a little dinner together, like we do for all our birthdays. Baki was on a mission, so he wasn't there."

Shikamaru relaxed a bit. The explanation helped, but he still could not quell the guilty burn in his stomach for forgetting her birthday. He ignored it. "Sounds nice." He said.

Temari nodded. "It was."

He grunted in assent, his eyes trailing the cloud that was slowing down considerably from its path a few moments ago. He decided to keep the topic going, the silence too tempting to dwell on his guilt. "Presents?"

Temari shook her head. "Nope."

He made another, softer noise. He felt a bit bad that she didn't get any presents, even on her birthday. It made him curious as to how holidays were treated at her home. Did she get anything for Christmas? Did they even celebrate Christmas? Did she get her brothers get any presents?

Temari sighed and looked at Shikamaru. He had a strange, glassy look in his eyes. She had come to recognize that expression. He was trapped deep in a string of thoughts, one after another, each leading farther and farther away from the trigger. She laughed lightly. God knew how long it would take him to snap out of it. He might be thinking about anything right now. She was little better, of course. Sometimes she would zone out on a tree branch or a Cliffside somewhere, staring out into space, contemplating all sorts of situations in her mind. What would happen, how it would end, how that ending could be changed. She had actually come up with a bit of a plan before she got here, but she wasn't quite sure if the moment was right to act on it.

But he wasn't doing anything to object to any sort of behavior. He was still motionless, gazing out at nothing in particular. She smiled to herself.

"So," She began, adding a fake seductive lilt to her voice. She had used that tone so many times, not only had she perfected it, she had also made it impossible to differentiate when she was kidding and when she was not. "What do _you_ want? In terms of presents."

Shikamaru gazed lazily at her. Knowing his thought train, it was more than likely he had forgotten she was event there at all. He turned back to his point of focus (nothing) and replaced his mask of indolence. "Nothing much. I don't have any places to put anything big or expensive. Free food would be nice." He turned to her, a thought striking him. "Give me money for dinner. I'm hungry."

Temari swatted him playfully on the back of the head. "Bite me." Shortly afterwards, however, her lips split into a large, toothy grin. "I already got you a present. Something far better than dinner, crybaby."

Shikamaru's eyes widened as he was suddenly ambushed with those very lips on his. Suddenly, his face was in contact with something soft, warm and... sugary. She had obviously beaten him to the punch at the bakery. She tasted so fantastic, the complete irrationality of the whole thing was entirely overshadowed by how warm and soft she was in his arms and against his skin. He never wanted to go back to that boring town, with those bothersome people and whatever stupid, pathetic party was most definitely awaiting him at his house. He wanted to stay here, sitting in the grass, feeling the warmth of the sun slowly recede against the horizon and trying to remember how to breathe with this goddess underneath him.

A tingling feeling in the back of his skull forced him to cautiously part with the kunoichi. She receded back at roughly the same time, causing them to realize that they both knew what the other knew.

"So you feel them coming too?" She muttered quietly onto his cheek.

Shikamaru chuckled. "I bet they think they're pretty clever."

Temari laughed lightly, the hot breaths causing the hairs on the back of his neck to prick up slightly. "Should we just continue and let them have their fun?"

Shikamaru pulled away reluctantly, running his hands through his hair while breathing out heavily. "Nah." He replied, sighing. "Best to just let them lead us into a ridiculously huge party. Then at least we won't have to hear them twittering about this for the next—"

"Eternity." She finished for him.

"Yeah, that."

Temari grinned at his gloomy expression and rumpled his hair playfully, reminding him who was the older of the two. "Look on the bright side, crybaby." She said happily, allowing her arm to drop to her side.

Shikamaru huffed. "And what would that be?"

Temari leaned over and whispered something in his ear that made him turn red all the way down to his neck.

**&**

DELECTABLE.


End file.
